Extraordinary Express Across the Atlantic – Pilot Boat William J. Romer, Captain McGuire, Leaving for England February 9th, 1846

Extraordinary Express Across the Atlantic – Pilot Boat William J. Romer, Captain McGuire, Leaving for England February 9th, 1846

Nathaniel Currier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A two-masted sailing vessel travels to the right through rough waves. Another ship can be seen to the right in the background and a building stands on an island at left. An American flag flies from the ship's stern as well as from a pole positioned next to the building. The island possibly portrays Governor's Island in New York Harbor.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Extraordinary Express Across the Atlantic – Pilot Boat William J. Romer, Captain McGuire, Leaving for England February 9th, 1846Extraordinary Express Across the Atlantic – Pilot Boat William J. Romer, Captain McGuire, Leaving for England February 9th, 1846Extraordinary Express Across the Atlantic – Pilot Boat William J. Romer, Captain McGuire, Leaving for England February 9th, 1846Extraordinary Express Across the Atlantic – Pilot Boat William J. Romer, Captain McGuire, Leaving for England February 9th, 1846Extraordinary Express Across the Atlantic – Pilot Boat William J. Romer, Captain McGuire, Leaving for England February 9th, 1846

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.